Senior Field Tech (Mission Success) in Portsmouth

• Employment Details
• Full time
• Permanent

Sub Sea Craft is a fast‑growing, privately‑funded, UK‑based innovative maritime technology company specialising in next‑generation, high‑performance watercraft and systems.

What We Offer

• Pension Contribution – Pension scheme with the option to contribute via salary sacrifice.
• Annual Bonus Scheme – Eligibility to participate in the company’s annual discretionary bonus scheme, linked to individual and company performance.
• Life Assurance and Critical Illness Cover – Comprehensive protection including Life Assurance (4x salary) and Critical Illness Cover.
• Annual Leave – Entitlement to 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Christmas Leave – A Christmas shutdown is typically observed.
• Wellbeing Day – An additional Wellbeing Day each year.
• Family Leave – Enhanced maternity and paternity pay.
• Private Healthcare – Access to comprehensive private healthcare coverage.
• Professional Development – Commitment to ongoing learning and career growth, supported by training programmes and access to Linked In Learning.
• Flexible Working – Opportunities for flexible working arrangements.
• Inclusive Culture – A professional environment that values diversity, innovation, and collaboration.
• Offsite Parking – Available.

Responsibilities

• Support and lead the planning and execution of UK and international platform evaluations, exercises and customer demonstrations across the full Sub Sea Craft portfolio.
• Act as the senior technical authority during operational activity, making time‑critical decisions to resolve technical and operational issues.
• Support the operation, integration and evaluation of uncrewed maritime and aerial systems, with particular focus on UAV/RPAS capability, operational employment and customer demonstrations.
• Diagnose and resolve technical issues affecting mission systems, software, communications, sensors and autonomous platforms.
• Configure and troubleshoot command and control systems, mission planning software and supporting communications architectures.
• Support operator training, system familiarisation and mission execution across the Sub Sea Craft portfolio.
• Lead the planning and execution of operational experimentation, capability demonstrations, test and evaluation activities and customer familiarisation events.
• Engage confidently with military, government and industry stakeholders, articulating platform capability, limitations and operational employment.
• Identify emerging customer needs, integration challenges and follow‑on opportunities, feeding insight into commercial strategy and product development.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to Field Technicians. Complement and support the trials team for UK‑based trials and commissioning phases as required.
• Escalate technical, safety or operational risks clearly and decisively through the reporting chain.
• Operate independently or under Mission Success leadership during expeditionary deployments, leading small deployable teams, setting technical standards and expectations.
• Lead or contribute to post‑activity reporting, customer debriefs and engagement planning.
• Support regional commercial teams with technically credible input during evaluations and acquisition discussions.
• Support the integration, testing and refinement of sensors, payloads and effectors.
• Act as the primary on‑site technical interface between end users, engineers, programme staff and key customer stakeholders.
• Capture and communicate diagnostic findings and lessons learned to support platform development and continuous improvement.
• Interpret telemetry, logs and system health data to identify root causes and restore operational capability.
• Operate effectively in high‑tempo, expeditionary environments, where reliability, safety and professional judgement directly impact mission outcomes, including UK and overseas deployments in support of trials, operational demonstrations, integration activities and customer evaluations.
• Prepare, configure, deploy, operate, fault‑find and recover platforms and supporting systems in operationally relevant maritime environments.
• Assure end‑to‑end platform technical readiness prior to deployment through close coordination with engineering and trials teams.

Essential Qualifications

• Experience operating and supporting unmanned systems (UAVs, RPAS, USVs, UUVs or equivalent), with UAV/RPAS experience highly desirable.
• Military, maritime, aviation or defence industry background with significant field or operational experience.
• Technical qualification in an engineering, aviation, maritime, robotics or related discipline, or equivalent military, industry or operational experience.
• Experience diagnosing and resolving technical issues within operational environments.
• Experience contributing to customer‑facing activities, demonstrations, trials or business development engagements.
• Strong understanding of health and safety and safe systems of work.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Full UK driving licence.
• UK‑based, with the willingness and ability to travel and deploy internationally for extended periods in support of trials, operational demonstrations, integration activities, exercises and customer engagements.
• Comfortable operating in expeditionary environments and acting as the forward technical representative of Sub Sea Craft alongside military, government and industry stakeholders.
• Hold an active UK Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) clearance, or be eligible and willing to obtain and maintain SC clearance.

Desirable Qualifications

• Significant recreational UAV experience, including FPV flying, self‑build platforms, mission planning, autonomous systems or platform modification.
• Experience operating, configuring and maintaining UAV/RPAS platforms in recreational, commercial, military or test environments.
• Holds an RPC Level 1 qualification, GVC or equivalent recognised RPAS qualification.
• Familiarity with mission planning or GCS software (e. g. QGround Control, Mission Planner, or equivalents).
• Experience supporting test and evaluation, experimentation or operational capability development activities.
• Familiarity with autonomy or autopilot frameworks.
• Experience operating, configuring and maintaining unmanned maritime platforms.
• Exposure to ROS / ROS2, MAVLink, embedded systems, CAN bus or sensor integration.
• MASS qualification or equivalent experience.
• Commercially endorsed (or eligible) RYA Advanced Powerboat or higher.
• Experience supporting diving or subsea operations.
• What We Expect From You
• Teamwork, mutual respect and collaboration.
• Initiative and independent working.
• Honesty and integrity.
• Business and commercial awareness.
• Agility, adaptability and continuous development.

We are committed to building an inclusive, diverse workplace where everyone can thrive. If you require any support or adjustments to interact with us, please let us know.

Due to the nature of work undertaken at Sub Sea Craft, the selected candidate must be capable of meeting the security requirements of the position, which would include as a minimum existing right to live and work in the UK, Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), with UK National security clearance required for certain roles.

All offers of employment are conditional and subject to satisfactory DBS, driving licence and reference checks.

A criminal record will not automatically disqualify candidates from employment.

We will consider criminal record information alongside the wider range of evidence gathered at the application, interview and pre‑employment checking stages.

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